REANNZ is launching the New Zealand Broadband Test, a website that allows Kiwis to test and compare their broadband connection. REANNZ (Research and Education Advanced Network New Zealand Ltd) is the Crown-owned company that owns and operates a high-speed, unrestricted broadband network (known to many as KAREN) for the New Zealand education, research and innovation communities.

Hosted by REANNZ, nzbt.org.nz lets users test their broadband performance at home or work and helps you to choose between Internet Service Providers (ISPs). It also shows how much faster your internet could be as ultra-fast broadband becomes available.

nzbt.org.nz will allow users to compare their internet connection with our fellow Kiwis. Users can visit the site, test their broadband speed and performance and then choose to share their results (or not). You can then compare your internet performance with others throughout New Zealand on Google Maps.

“Internet connections can vary region to region and even neighbour to neighbour depending on your ISP, location and equipment,” says Steve Cotter, CEO of REANNZ. “This website will let Kiwis test and compare their current connection and can help others make an informed decision about which ISP to choose”.

This is a beta version of the website and so users are invited to provide feedback on what they would like to see in the next version.

nzbt.org.nz is based on a similar site (SPEBS, broadbandtest.eett.gr) created by the EETT, the Greek telecommunications regulator. Local Kiwi developers Rabid have adapted SPEBS for New Zealand. The open source platform means that the code can be used for free by others to develop, making it easy to create your own version, as REANNZ did for New Zealand.

The website uses Measurement Lab (M-Lab), an open, distributed server platform on which researchers can host open source broadband measurement tools. One of these tools, NDT, provides the test that NZ users access each time they test via NZBT. M-Lab is a research consortium, with a goal of advancing network research and empowering consumers by providing useful, publicly available broadband measurement data across the globe.